Editor's Page

AccessWorld Readers Have a Lot to Say about Money

Dear AccessWorld readers,

All I can say is: Wow! The AccessWorld team and I received a tremendous response to the financial focus of the March issue. It was fantastic to get so many e-mails asking questions and offering information about additional resources. I hope the issue prompted many of you to take a more proactive stance to your finances and get your taxes filed early instead of waiting until the last minute!

In our current economy, carefully managing our personal finances is more important than ever. Having independent access to banking and investment information is crucial to setting and achieving our financial goals.

As a reminder, AccessWorld would like to hear from you concerning your experiences accessing banking and financial services. We want to find out how well the financial institutions used by our readers are meeting the needs of people with vision loss, and we want to be able to demonstrate to these same institutions that there is still more work to be done to improve accessibility. If you have not already done so, please take a few moments to participate in our survey. If you have already responded, thank you very much for your input! Results will be shared in a future AccessWorld issue, and the responses you provide will help AFB reach out to the banking industry to improve accessibility.

In the current issue of AccessWorld, you'll find an update on the Blind Driver's Challenge from Deborah Kendrick, as well as highlights from CSUN and AFB's national conference, JLTLI, from Bradley Hodges and Joe Strechay, respectively. Be sure and read this month's AccessWorld News section, which is packed with a broad range of information from prescription medication access, to Microsoft accessibility, to cell phone access, to Starbucks—that's right: Starbucks!

To give you a sense of what's ahead for AccessWorld: The May issue is devoted to "tech for all." We will be working in cooperation with AFB's Center on Vision Loss in Dallas and AFB's Senior Site to provide information for those who may be new to technology and/or vision loss. The May issue will have something for everyone, from the newest of the newbies to the techiest of the techies! The rest of the summer's topics will be equally interesting: The June issue will focus on cell phone accessibility, July will focus on students of all ages heading back to school, and the August issue will focus on low vision.

As always, thank you for reading AccessWorld—we hope you look forward to the upcoming issues as much as we look forward to bringing them to you!